Anxiety.. our bodies response

Anxiety, we conceptualize this to be within just someone with a mental health diagnosis......

While it is so much more than that. 

In Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, any emotion is information, and this has truly revolutionized how I have become to understand it. 

EMDR therapy, we are taught as clinicians that our trauma has been closely engrained within our cognitions and dancing with our amygdala. 

Lots of language here.... so let me break it down to how I have come to have a relationship with my anxiety. Yes, even as a therapist, anxiety reeks havoc for myself at times , wounded healer concept here. 

Our bodies are built with this internal alarm system that is primitive that has taught ourselves to stay safe.. 

As we experience life, we take in information and our brain will classify this in areas that are protective and store critical information. When we begin to feel that onset of anxiousness; heart racing, racing thoughts, Sweaty palms, dizziness, feeling faint, blurred vision, the list can go on depending upon the person. This means our “lizard brain” , the primitive safe zone has been alerted there is danger. The tricky part of anxiety in the world we live in, that trigger going on can exaggerate the anxiety and intensify it. 

What is occurring is our bodies are being flooded with cortisol, stress hormone to have our bodies alert system looking for danger. While uncomfortable, it is our beautiful brains saying, “CAUTION”. Our senses are now more keen and amplified..... we hear sounds more louder, our sight is trying to zoom in, and tada... perfect storm. There is now the inability to sort out the stimuli and we can become overstimulated. This is where the fight, flight or freeze response is activated from our lovely amygdala. Let’s step further into this..... if someone has a history with trauma... our bodies will retain the score . Trauma is such a personal experience that ones trauma is theirs and it is intense. We cannot as humanity to ever invalidate their experience. 

So as someone who has this event, their bodies spider sense kick in and absorbs sounds, smells, sight and every bit of information needed. 

Hence why even the most stimulating event can activate our stress response building the anxiety. 

So here’s what I have found within the eclectic world of therapy. Let’s begin to have a relationship with this part of life. As there is an onset, we may not know what is happening, which in return can absolutely become overwhelming even more so with our responses. So, we allow this to occur and we begin to use mindfulness activities that calm our parasynthetic nervous system. We then begin to listen to our bodies response with a loving mind. The beauty of how we Innately our body wants to keep us safe!  The next step is pivotal ... we begin to teach ourselves that is activated, that it is safe. This is where we will learn the script to heal our bodies. 

Therapy is learning a relationship with what has built the person we have become and find a way to coexist with events that can feel haunting. Anxiety is like the ghost of our past. Please understand that you are never alone... it is affecting more than you know... and there is strength in numbers with knowing that those other are out there. 

Whenever someone is ready , they will seek it. The beauty of therapy is the pace, grace, and support.